March 2023 | By Angeleen Olson

Angeleen Olson is a Research Technician at the Hakai Institute’s Calvert Ecological Observatory. She also serves as the coordinator for the MarineGEO Observatory at the Hakai Institute.   

Roadmap to Recovery for the Sunflower Sea Star

In collaboration with leaders across several states, countries, Tribes, First Nations and Hakai scientists, The Nature Conservancy developed a Roadmap to Recovery to accelerate the recovery of sunflower sea star populations throughout their range. If we don’t act now, what will the future bring for the critically endangered sunflower sea star? For the full report: https://bit.ly/SunflowerSeaStar  

Hakai scientists are addressing research objectives 1, 2 and 3 from the roadmap to recovery. In the field, we are documenting the distribution and abundance of remnant populations of sunflower sea stars (as well as the other sea star species) on the central coast of British Columbia. Through this work we are exploring the role of oceanographic conditions, population genomics, and associated microbial communities in population dynamics. In the lab, we are exploring the causative agent of disease, and have so far confirmed that the disease can be transmitted through controlled transmission.  

^{Gillian Sadlier-Brown and Derek VanMaanen, field technicians from the Hakai Institute, take microbial samples from Pycnopodia near Calvert Island, British Columbia, Canada. Photo credit: Alyssa Gehman}

Food web connectivity on the coastal margin

Hakai scientists have been busy using stable isotopes to understand how primary production from various habitats contribute to coastal food webs. A new study led by the Hakai Scientists Angeleen Olson and Carolyn Prentice illustrate how kelp forest subsidies contribute to abundance of small invertebrates that provide fish food in eelgrass habitats. As a MarineGEO partner, Hakai actively monitors multiple eelgrass sites and kelp forest sites in British Columbia.  

^{Smithora, a red alga that grows on sub-tidal eelgrass (Zostera marina) in Choked Passage, British Columbia. Photo credit: Angeleen Olson}

In neighboring channels and in the heart of the Northeast Pacific Coastal Temperate Rainforest, Kyra St. Pierre and Hakai Scientists used a 4-year dataset to quantify the relative contributions of riverine inputs, marine phytoplankton, and macrophytes (macroalgae and seagrass) to surface Particulate Organic Matter at 11 stations representing fjord, shallow non-fjord estuary, sheltered channel and well-mixed coastal waters. For more, check out the paper in Frontiers. 

^{Understanding sources of primary production to POM surface samples in British Columbia (St. Pierre et al. 2022).}

False Creek Bioblitz

The Hakai Institute and the False Creek Friends Society (FCFS), in collaboration with the City of Vancouver and several local community partners, undertook community engagement activities (i.e. outreach, education and community science) and scientific initiatives between April and September 2022 to provide a comprehensive understanding of the biodiversity of the seafloor, the water and the shorelines of the False Creek area in Vancouver, British Columbia. While full analyses of the scientific initiatives are ongoing, a description of the event and preliminary results have been detailed in an interim report. The collaborators look forward to providing an update to this report in early 2023 when more results will be available. Learn more at https://www.falsecreekfriends.org/false-creek-bioblitz-2022/. 

^{Scientists from the Hakai Institute during the False Creek BioBlitz. Photo credit: Kelly Fretwell/Hakai Media}